CANADA: 2026 Nunavut Expedition

April 13th
The predicted blizzard hit with snowfall and lots of wind. We stayed in camp all day as visibility varied from 50 to 100 yards. The tent was quite noisy and shaking constantly but was secure. The tent was the Arctic Oven brand, made in Alaska, and very durable. I have used these tents before in Alaska and they are great. The interior is lined with a white insulated cloth as you can see in the picture.



We spent this downtime on the internet and messaging family. It was my oldest daughter’s birthday so I texted her as well.

With a portable Yamaha generator running an electric light, a charging plug and the Starlink, we were pretty comfortable.




Intruder!
Suddenly, at about 8:40PM in the middle of the white-out blizzard, the dogs began freaking out and frantically barking! This could only mean one thing - a hungry polar bear in camp! Luckily, we were all fully dressed, sans boots and heavy outer layers. We scrambled to put our boots on, grab my rifle and get out of the tent. I followed Ishmael out the door with Joe right behind me. Ishmael grabbed his .22-250 from the tent vestibule and we popped outside all together.

Once outside, we saw a bear trying to get past the dogs to the tent and freight sleds. It was a boar but not huge. We were all screaming at the bear and the dogs were still barking furiously. We were unable to get to the dogs to release them to chase off the bear because the bear was too close and it would have been a very risky thing to attempt.

My AHR CZ550 in .375 H&H holds six down in the magazine. I quickly chambered a round and flipped up my scope covers. It was decided that Ishmael would fire a .22-250 round into the ice to attempt to scare the bear away. At the shot, the bear had no reaction and was still pacing back and forth trying to walk through the restrained dogs. The bear would not leave and was dangerously close to us at about 20 yards. When the bear did not leave or react to Ishmael’s shot, the guys started yelling at me, “Shoot Scott, shoot!” I shouldered my rifle and shot the bear as it was quartering towards me. I was barely outside of the tent. The bear was obviously hit well and finally turned quartering away while struggling to walk away. I shot it again quartering away and it went a little farther and tried to climb up a snowbank but collapsed! Wow, that was an exciting and an intense few moments!

I chambered another round and we watched the bear. It quit moving while we watched a bit longer. Confident that it was down for good, one at a time we ducked back into the tent and put on our warm outer layers. We then approached the bear and I poked it but it was dead.

We took some pictures with the bear still halfway up the snowbank and then we hooked a rope to it and dragged it off the snowbank with a snowmobile for some different picture angles. You can see the camp in some of the pictures and how close it was to camp, even after it walked off a bit after my shots.





We then skinned the bear as it got dark. We measured the hide at just under 8’ square (width from front claw across to the other front claw plus length from nose to tail divided by two). Not exactly the size of bear I was hoping for but makes for a hell of a story!

We then quartered the meat and went to bed. A boring start to the day with an intense ending!

Scott, A 10’ bear with an average story isn’t near the trophy as an 8’ bear with that story.

As you know those bears don’t bluff. They will drag you out of your tent in a heartbeat.

CONGRATS Buddy !!!!!!

Wow! That took an unexpected turn! What a great adventure.

Congratulations, wild twist ending.

Congratulations and great report.

Here’s one that did get in the tent

Altitude sickness said:

Here’s one that did get in the tent View attachment 760432

Click to expand...

Yes they are not afraid of people on foot or in a camp. The dogs are with you for bear harassment protection as much as pulling a dogsled.

I have a client that told me a big bear came to their camp while they were eating breakfast. The guide released a couple dogs and went back to eating breakfast. The client was questioning why they didn’t shoot the bear right away. The guide said, “The bear will still be here after we finish eating. He’s not going anywhere. He is here for us!”

HOLY SHIT! That was a hell of a twist to the story! Congratulations ans great shooting under pressure.

Awesome hunt and well written. Cool to have a jacket with Everest pedigree too!

Fantastic adventure and hunt report! Congratulations Scott!

That is epic!
Makes it really exciting when you're the bait...

I'll take a small bear with that story any day over a larger with with very little excitement.

As you said, those bears are not scared of anything and if it wants you odd are in it's favor. But I was wondering what Ishmael was planning to do with his 22-250, I have no doubt that if needed he could of placed a shot where it would do the most good but still.

Congratulations on a great hunt that most of us will never be able to do.

Amazing how fast things can change. I have had bears in camp before, one grizzly and several black bear. A Polar Bear would be new. When they’re not scared when seeing you or the gun shot. You did the right thing, it can get crazy really fast!! Or in this case crazier!!
Wow!!
Awesome hunt so far. You not home yet . Keep it coming

What an adventure! It’s insane to me how Starlink has connected the entire world. Great bear, great story, great everything. Be safe on the way out.

Congrats Scott on a great adventure and a wonderful bear to remember it all by. Thanks for taking the time to share.

I also want to thank @redbarn for selling me his very warm arctic-rated Northface sleeping bag for a very reasonable price. The sleeping bag worked great! Everyone on AH is so helpful! He got his polar bear prior to Obama ending imports.

Fantastic hunt and writing. Thanks for sharing.

Been following along and enjoying your post; somewhat envious though.
Congrats on a very fine bear !!

April 14th
The blizzard continued unabated until just before dark. We were able to prepare a few things for departure but not much. The Yamaha generator started surging and stopping altogether at times. The guys were bummed that the Starlink wasn’t working as a result as they are a bit addicted to the internet! It didn’t bother me as much and I still had my InReach device.

The guys removed the spark plug and I cleaned it with some steel wool that I always take with me to clean rust or corrosion off of the bolts of my rifles. They then decided to warm the generator by putting it inside a wooden box that they had on one of the freight sleds for storage. They put a Coleman stove inside the box with the generator. I advised against this plan and tried to explain that the generator didn’t contain a battery or anything needing warming but they went forward with the plan anyway. I was in the tent when I heard a loud “whoosh” and commotion. Joe burst into the tent and grabbed the teapot full of water. They dumped the generator out of the box onto the snow and tried to douse the flames with the water! It was too late as the generator plastic exterior and the fuel and fuel tank were completely engulfed with fire! It burned stubbornly until it was reduced to just some blackened metal parts! I have to admit that I had a chuckle to myself.

April 15th
I set my alarm for 5:30AM so that we would get an early start getting camp torn down and packed up. With a 9-10 hour trip ahead of us, I wanted to get an early start and get to the hotel before it was too late. After a danish and hot tea, I packed my gear and started helping the guys. We made pretty good time except for their numerous smoke breaks! Joe and I took down the tent while Ishmael cleaned the snow from the blizzard out of the freight sleds. Then they started packing up the sleds while I fed them the items to pack. I also cleaned the snow off of the snowmobiles and secured my rifle and my daypack to my snowmobile. We were packed up and left at 9:00AM.

The trip back started out pretty well. We rode across the smooth ice in the bay headed east to the canyon at the head of the bay and followed the frozen river up the canyon. We had to stop once and tighten up the ropes that held the dogsled on top of Joe’s freight sled.

Probably about an hour further up the river, Joe turned his snowmobile a little too sharp on the river ice, causing the sled to whip sideways. I started yelling for him to stop but it’s a noisy way of traveling and he didn’t hear me. The sled was sliding sideways on the ice and then hit some snow, which immediately flipped it over onto its side! I blasted past him and motioned him to stop. Luckily, the dogs were unharmed, although the thin plywood dog box was damaged. It could have been much worse. When Ishmael drove up on us, we were all able to “right the ship” and re-tied all the ropes. Other than Joe missing a couple turns up in the hills and ridges again, we finally got back safe and sound to the village at 6:30PM after 9.5 hours on snowmobiles and I got a much welcome shower at 7PM!

April 16th
I slept in a bit and had a relaxing day repacking my gear, drying things out and catching up on some work. I wasn’t able to load any pictures for this story or send pictures to my family because the hotel WiFi was quite weak. My cell carrier, Verizon, was useless in the village as well but I could text on the WiFi.

April 17th
My flight out of the village and back to Iqaluit, the Capital of Nunavut, and on to Ottawa didn’t depart until 4:10PM but I used the day to tip the guys and talk with Enoki. I spoke with him about possibly coming back for a July or August trip someday when they hunt walrus and bears by boat near the remaining ice chunks that the walrus sun themselves on and when the bears are also there hunting the walrus. He showed me some areas on the map where they conduct those hunts in Foxe Basin waters and islands. I didn’t want to do a July or August polar bear hunt for my first and possibly only trip because I wanted to do the traditional spring hunt on the ice and with the dogs. Now that I’ve had that adventure, a warmer weather hunt sounds more appealing albeit less challenging. We will see. Below is a picture from the plane of Iqaluit.

Sounds like quite an adventure ! Now have a safe return to the Centennial State.